Rudy Owens exits early as Astros fall to Mets 6-2

Rudy Owens was roughed up in his second outing of spring. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Brett Oberholtzer is the one lefthander that can be somewhat safely projected to be a part of the Astros’ rotation. Beyond that, it seems possible the Astros could break camp with four other starting pitchers who are right-handed.

There’s no rule that says a team needs more than one lefty in the rotation, or even one at all. Manager Bo Porter said after a 6-2 spring training loss to the Mets on the road Tuesday that he wants to take the five best starting pitchers into the regular season, period.

But if the Astros did have an eye to have a second lefthander behind Oberholtzer, competition really boils down to two people: Rudy Owens and Dallas Keuchel.

Owens’ road start on Tuesday did not go well. He allowed three runs, walked three and recorded just one out. The Mets’ Curtis Granderson hit two home runs in the game, one off Owens in the first inning, the other off righty Jorge De Leon in the second.

“I don’t really have any excuses,” Owens said. “I had my stuff getting ready for the game and when I got out there I just kind of sped things up and couldn’t really figure out how to slow it down. There was mechanical things and I already talked to (pitching coach Brent Strom).”

Owens said Strom’s advice was to speed up his delivery in order to get his arm to catch up with his body.

The loss dropped the Astros to 3-2 in Grapefruit League play. Shortstop Jonathan Villar’s two-run homer accounted for both of the Astros’ runs.

De Leonsaid he is never nervous when he comes into a game, and that included Tuesday’s appearance, his first of the Grapefruit League season after a right quad injury.

“I threw change-up, slider,” De Leon said. “I need to work more on my splitter before I throw it in the game.”

The only hit De Leon allowed was the Granderson homer, a solo shot. De Leon threw 1 2/3 innings.

Righty Josh Fields, who closed for the Astros at the end of last year, made his spring debut with two hits and one strikeout in one inning’s work.

“Battling the heat first time back out there, but it felt good,” Fields said. “I was pretty excited for my curveball, how I was able to throw that for a strike.”

Fields said he occasionally will try to work on a specific pitch in spring training, but more often than not he pitches as he would normally. He wants to close, but knows he may not have that chance this year, at least right away.

“I’d love to be in consideration for that job this spring, but we’ve got some veteran guys,” Fields said. “I have no idea what’s going to happen, nobody’s told me anything.”

Said Porter: “All Josh can do is continue to take care of his business.”

Worth noting

Porter said that through his first four games, he did not encounter a play that he would have challenged under MLB’s new replay system. … Lefty Raul Valdes is close to returning, Porter said.